Melody in Black 2: Lux Lucis Fortuna, Atrum Vicis
by HosekiDragon
Summary: Sequel to MIB:EdC. Seven years I was gone but to them it was as though I never left. The agony that came with my return, the truths that had to be told, and the destiny I want to reject. Every story has to end...
1. Phantom Lost, Phantom Found

Here we are, friends, the second part of Melody in Black: Esprit de Corps. I feel I should warn you that this one will be completely in first person for the sake that, well, it's the only way it works.

And the title translates to "Light Fate, Dark Times." You'll get it later.

Now that that's out of the way…I sincerely hope you'll enjoy the final installment of the Danny Phantom Melody Series.

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**One: Phantom Lost, Phantom Found

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"_Spirit. It cannot be broken and it cannot be stolen away……The physical powers of the body cannot be separated from the rationale of the mind and the emotion of the heart. They are one and the same, a compilation of a singular being. It is in the harmony of these three—body, mind, and heart—that we find spirit……It cannot be broken and it cannot be taken away. This I must believe." –Drizzt Do'Urden, "The Dark Elf Trilogy", R.A. Salvator

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_

I stepped back, admiring my work, and arched my back. It popped and I straightened with a triumphant grunt. I had never been much of a painter but after oh so many years stuck in the same place, well, you sort of pick up on a few things. And I'd picked up a lot of things.

"My Lord?" I turned around, entirely conscious of the fact that I was wearing nothing but a pair of worn out, ripped up, cut-offs. There stood Mack with the familiar look on his face; the one that he used when he thought I was being immature; his silver and black suit perfect without a single crease in it, his blonde hair slicked back, his brown eyes attentive.

"I'm not that busy, Mack." I set the rolling paintbrush back in the tray of emerald paint, looked around for something to wipe my paint plastered fingers on, and settled for smearing them on my cut-offs, knowing how much it would irk the man before me to do so, "What do you need?"

"You're expected at the Hall, sir, in no less than half an hour." Mack shuffled to his left, an obvious sign that he was upset with me, "I thought you'd already left, My Lord, I apologize for the late notice."

"It's alright, Mack, forget it." I switched my gaze to the half-finished study, "I'll finish this tomorrow." Remodeling the study had been my project in my free time, "Do you know what the meeting's about?" I edged out of the room, careful not to touch any of the other walls with my painted limbs.

"I was not informed, My Lord." Mack was back in business mode, walking briskly behind me, "Would you like something prepared after you have finished showering?"

"Uhh," I paused for the briefest moment with my hand on the golden knob of my bedroom door, "Yeah, sure. A Strawberry, Pineapple, and, hm, Watermelon slushy." I grinned at the look of disgust Mack was unable to keep off his face.

"You're tastes have not changed since you arrived here…" The man stated and turned on his heel and marched off. I chuckled and swung into my room, humming no particular tune.

I'd done all my own decorating and even thought the room was bigger than what I had been used to when I first arrived, I had grown accustomed to it. And the mansion. And the garden. And the pool. And the servants. Either way, it had always seemed to me that everything was big. I didn't know if that was just the trait around the parts or if it was just me. Maybe I subconsciously liked big stuff?

The dark blue carpet squished underneath my worn out shoes as I trailed a hand over the pale blue walls. I'd painted this room as soon as I'd arrived, unable to stand the bright, welcome yellows I'd been provided with. Blue made it feel like home. Blue made it all the more real to me. Made me realize just what I had done a scale I never thought I could ever think on. Certainly Mack didn't know my feelings, he thought the "blue thing" was just a phase of my favorite color.

_Of course, he's wrong._ I thought to myself scooping up some dress clothes from my closet before making my way towards the bathroom, _My favorite color is a particular shade of lilac that no paint company in the world could hope to duplicate._ My heart thumped loudly in my chest as I turned on the water, _But how could he know that…how could anybody know that…?_

* * *

Because I had no time to walk to the Hall like I usually would have done, I flew. As soon as I stepped out the front door of my home and waved good-bye to Mack, I crouched and let the cold, white light dance across my frame. It was different from my younger years. No longer was it two rings splitting up and down my body but a swirling mist of light that sparkled with stars. Much more attractive, at least in my eyes.

My old hazmat suit was still the same; I found it odd that it had grown with me. Still black with the white collar, gloves, belt, boots, and symbol on my chest. My sleek, long white hair was blown out of my face by the wind whipping around me as I shot over the ground, following the dirt path. A white marble building loomed on the horizon and I dropped to the ground, letting the light flash over me and revert me to my human form.

I let my long black hair hang loose over my shoulders but brushed it agitatedly out of my mismatched eyes as I walked along. The black trench coat I wore over my loose white shirt and taupe pants billowed around the ankles of my dark brown boots in a warm breeze. Bird song drifted through the air and brought with it the smell of newly bloomed flowers, fresh, untainted streams of water, and the cool scent of snow atop the mountains in the distance.

I took a deep breath, relishing the clean air that whooshed into my lungs and then back out again. The air here was wonderful, so clean and pure. My smile dropped for split second. I knew this whole thing was a charade, something to cover up what I was really feeling. I hadn't been truly happy in almost seven years. Then again, I hadn't seen my home in seven years either.

My boots thudded on the marble steps as I made my way up them towards the double wooden doors. They creaked ominously as I pushed them open and stepped into the cool, dimly lit interior of the Hall. It was one room; polished wooden floor from one cold marble wall to the other, lit by dim yellow lights on the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and a long, elegant wooden table in the middle. Several people dressed mostly in black sat around the table, fingering glasses of wine or plates of food.

I strode forward and slid into a seat next to a tall, blonde woman with welcoming brown eyes and a flowing black and silver dress. I smiled at her but let it slip away when it wasn't returned.

"You're late, Lord Phantom." Rumbled the man across the table from me, his spiked blonde hair seeming to glow in the dim lighting and the silver edges of his black suit sparkling.

"Only just, Lord Grim." I replied, waving away the servant who'd been offering me food and drink, "What's this about?"

"It's about you, Phantom!" Lady Darkness chuckled from her seat down the table, "All about our precious Lord Phantom!"

"Quiet!" Lord Sorrow snapped, his voice vibrating in my chest.

"Reapers!" Lord Grim called out, "To order! Enough of this arguing!" He leaned back in his chair as I swept my gaze down the table. It was only the higher ups, the Lord and Lady Reapers. I switched my gaze back to Lord Grim as he started speaking,

"Lord Phantom has been with us for seven years now," Way to go Captain Obvious, "And he's done his part as we have done ours." Those cold brown eyes, like frozen blocks of chocolate, bored into me, "But it's time he was returned to where he belongs."

"WHAT!?" The entire room shook with my cry as I leapt to my feet, knocking my chair over, "What do you mean I have to return!? I can't go back! You can't—! I can't—! What about—!?" Words failed me. I gaped at him, mouth flapping like an old Chinese movie where the words don't match with the lip movement. He just sat there, looking at me impassively. My hand automatically flew to my chest, clenching on the top of my shirt.

"No, Lord Phantom, we're not going to take that away from you." Lady Grief put in monotonously and I glared at her. What right did she have to speak? What right did any of them have to push me around!?

"Phantom," Lady Grim put a hand on my arm and I turned my icey gaze on her, "Sit down and let us explain."

"Explain what!?" I snapped, yanking my arm away from her, "You've gotten sick of me!? I've done my best! I've done everything I was told to do!"

"We agreed to teach you all we know so that things would be the way they were supposed to be!" Lord Odium growled darkly, "And so we have done! There is nothing left for you here!"

"Silence!" Lord Grim snarled, pushing himself to his feet, "Lord Phantom! Take your seat again!" I let my breath hiss out between my teeth, black hair falling into my face, but rightened my chair and sat down with a thud. Lord Grim knew he'd pissed me off but continued talking like it was a normal conversation over lunch, "As Lord Odium said, we have nothing left to teach you. It's time for you to go back and pick up where you left off." His flashing eyes narrowed, "You know what you have to do."

I sighed, realizing that it was no use to argue, and straightened in my chair, "When?"

"Right now."

"Now?" I gave them all the pleasure of a sad smile, "Well, someone's going to have to tell Mack that I won't be able to finish the study." I stood up and Lady Grim stood beside me.

"Clockwork's waiting for you." She took my hand and I stared at it, "What's the matter, boy-o? I haven't seen that look on your face since you first came here seven years ago."

"I feel like I did when I first came here." I muttered and then shook my head, "Alright, Lady Grim, I'm ready. Tell Mack I' sorry about the mess I left him."

"Of course."

I suddenly felt like I was being squeezed into the neck of a glass bottle head first and closed my eyes, cringing at the feeling. I'd never get used to it. Never. It's hard for someone who's still alive to travel between dimensions.

* * *

"_Does this have to be here?"_

"_I'm taking that as a stupid question."_

"_Well I feel like Ironman or something."_

_Laughter._

"_What's so funny?"_

"_You. You have the amazing ability to crack jokes in the most dire and heart wrenching situations."_

"_Yeah, I have that affect on people."_

"_So you're really sure this is the way you want to do this?"_

"_Well, it's like you say: 'Everything is as it should be'." _

"_Touché."_

* * *

Lady Grim left me in Clockwork's screen room and vanished back into her own dimension. I stood there alone, knowing all the while that Clockwork was watching my every move, and pretended that I didn't notice the screens showing my hometown or my bedroom. Instead I picked my teeth with my fingernail.

"Really, Lord Phantom, that's most undignified." Came a smooth voice from the shadows and a smile crept onto my lips as the Time Ghost floated into the room in his young man form.

"Hey Clockwork, good to see you!" I threw my arms around him and gave him a big hug, just to tick him off.

"Danny…" He muttered warningly and I backed off, laughing. When I noticed he wasn't smiling like he usually would have, I stopped and sighed.

"I know." I muttered, "And quit looking at me like that, do you have any idea how much this is going to hurt me?"

"Do you have any idea how many times you've said that to me over the years?" Clockwork replied, his form shifting so that he resembled an old man, "Now, let's see what those Reaper's have given me to work with."

"A lot more than I used to be, Clockwork." I said with a grin but stood still as he moved in a slow circle around me, warm red eyes flickering over my wiry frame. I'd grown up from the sixteen year old boy who'd left home seven years ago.

"Shirt." He muttered, turning his back to me to tinker with his staff, "Take it off." I didn't comment, just tossed my coat on the floor and tugged my shirt over my head, ruffling my black hair. Then I shivered; the Ghost Zone was freezing when I wasn't transformed. Clockwork turned back around, turning into his toddler form as he did so, "And how's _this_ little number doing?" He asked, tapping the end of his staff lightly against it and I felt it vibrate through my whole body as a sharp "ting" rang throughout his lair.

"Fine," I said in a low voice, putting a hand over it to stop it, "I've gotten used to it."

"Mm," The Master of Time replied and I was sure he was sensing the lie in my voice, "Well, in any case, you know what you have to do when you go back?" I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, "Alright then…this is going to hurt. You might want to sit down."

I nodded again and sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. Clockwork himself still stood (or is that floated?), holding his staff over my head. I thought I saw his hand shaking before I closed my mismatched eyes. I felt his spectral energy swirl around and me and it took a lot of will power for me to not lash out. Then it seeped into my skin and the pain started.

In all honesty it wasn't as bad as when the Ghost Portal had shocked me but it still burned worse than anything I had felt in a really long time. The thing on my chest burned the worst, though; it felt like it was on fire and melting against my skin.

I don't know how long it lasted but when it finally faded away, I was laying on my stomach on the floor, panting like I'd run for miles. I pushed myself into a sitting position, rubbing my face in my hands. Then I stopped and looked at my hands. They were slighter, smaller, and less callused. My gaze traveled over the rest of me.

My arms were thinner, as was the rest of me, but I didn't feel like I'd lost any of my adult strength, my hair was considerably shorter and so scruffier, and there was no dark stubble on my chin. The only thing that remained was _that_ gleaming ever prominently on my chest. With a grin, I grabbed the top of my pants and was about to pull them forward to look down them when—.

"Danny!" Those scolding tones told me everything, "Here, you'll need these." Clockwork still hovered over me but was now holding out a bundle of folded clothes. I stared at them sadly for a moment or two and then took them. The Time Master turned his back on me as I changed into the slightly-too-big blue jeans and the baggy, dark blue, hooded sweater that would easily hide the anomaly protruding from my skin.

"I'm…ready, Clockwork."

"You will never be ready for pain, Danny Phantom." The ghost said to me, the sad look in his red eyes sending a pang through me as I looked at the guilt etched onto his young man face, "All you can do is wait for it to pass." He pointed his staff at the screen showing my bedroom, "You remember where you left off?"

"Yeah…seven years ago, I…" I bit my lip harder than I meant to, forcing myself to smile, "Look, why do I need to tell you? Let's just go."

"Good luck, Danny." Clockwork briefly rested a hand on my shoulder as I stepped up to the screen.

"Thanks." I whispered back and jumped.

* * *

I wasn't stupid. I knew how much it would hurt to come back after being gone for so long. But Clockwork was right, I wasn't ready for it.

To tell the truth, when I landed on my hands and knees on the soft carpet floor of my bedroom, I thought someone had carved my heart out with a rusty knife and replaced it with a spiked, steel ball.

I really wanted to sit there and cry. Imagine, a twenty-three year old bursting into tears. Then again, I looked sixteen to anyone else. Clockwork's powers saw to that.

I heard the front door open and jumped to my feet, my mind flashing back to what had happened seven years—no, two seconds—ago.

"Danny!" I felt another wave of mixed emotions; nausea, guilt, pain, and happiness, "Danny, where are you!?"

"I'm _coming_, Jazz!" I tried to make myself sound as irritated as possible as I stumbled around my bed, stubbed my toe on a pile of books, and finally made it to the door. I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen, hands in the pockets of my jeans, "What?"

"Danny, what is _this_?" Jazz pointed in an irritated fashion to the mess of papers, books, a few scattered pens, two empty cans of soda, a bowl and spoon with the dregs of milk and cereal at the bottom, and an abandoned I-pod that covered most of the dining room table.

"Uhhhh…" I rubbed the back of my neck and remembered I was supposed to be "sick" and staying in bed, "A mess." I said lamely.

"Clean it up before Mom and Dad get home." My sister said but not in an unfriendly way, "If they find out you've been faking sick again just so you can skip school they're going to ground you for life."

"Psh, I was _studying_ ghosts." I muttered sullenly, sweeping most of the mess into the trash can where I fried it into ashes with a well balanced ecto-beam.

"And chugging soda." Jazz added with a smile and I returned it, holding back the tears as best I could. I'd grown up in a world that had never taught me to stop being a kid. I think, on the inside, I would forever be sixteen.

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Well there's the first chapter in all its shrouded glory. You guys have no idea what's going on and I intend to keep it that way for a while. Don't worry though, explanations will come in due time. For those of you who read the sneak preview I put in the first half of MIB, you already know that one can of beans gets spilled big time.

So, anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter…

…if I get some nice, juicy reviews.

See ya'!


	2. The Phantom That Time Remembered

I've had two people bite my head off for not letting them know what's going on. It's great fun, actually, watching them squirm because they have no clue what's happening. I feel so evil. This is fun.

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**Two: The Phantom that Time Remembered**

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Jazz covered for me.

I listened at the door to my room as she told Mom and Dad how she'd come home and I was asleep in bed and that I'd probably been there the whole day.

The voices of my parents made my stomach churn and I buried my face in my pillow, curling into a tiny ball.

Clockwork was right, it was hurting too much. I thought I was going to be sick.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and quickly feigned sleep. I didn't feel like talking to them just yet. The door opened.

"Shhh, Jack, he's sleeping." I heard Mom whisper and then her soft footsteps came towards me, "He looks so peaceful." She brushed her fingers across my forehead; no doubt checking my temperature; and a wave of sorrow so strong washed over me that I couldn't stop the little moan of anguish that slipped past my lips.

"Hush." She kissed my forehead and tucked my blankets closer around me, "There, that should chase away those pesky nightmares." I heard the smile in her voice.

"And the ghosts!" Dad said loudly.

"Jack! Shush!" Mom scolded and I heard her voice getting farther away, "Let's let him sleep." The door closed.

My whole body was shaking with the effort of keeping my sobs quite, tears streamed from my eyes, staining my pillow, and my heart ached terribly. Even having my physical time turned back was nothing compared to the torment I was suffering. Why did it hurt so much more to return than it had to leave?

I rolled onto my back, staring up at the ceiling through watery eyes. Now that I was back, the prospect of doing what I had to do seemed, in all honesty, irrelevant. Why should _I_ have to suffer? Why should _I_ have to subject my family to something I'd been trying to keep from them for years.

I sat up and looked across my room to stare down my reflection in the mirror. One blue eye and one green eye, both red and puffy from tears, stared back at me. I'd simply told my parents that being around all their ecto-equipment seemed to be having side effects. Of course they'd flipped and tried to "uncontaminate" me but Jazz had convinced them otherwise; the "contamination" wasn't hurting me and as long as I kept a safer distance then I wouldn't have to worry about any further effects. It was also a great way to make them keep their ghost hunting gear away from me.

A clattering from downstairs took my attention and the smell of cooking food wafted up to me. There was no way I was staying in bed if Mom was cooking. I hadn't had Mom's food in too long not to let it go now. I jumped out of bed and phased through a couple of walls to the bathroom. Once there, I splashed some water on my face to clear out my eyes and phased out again.

I crept quietly down the stairs and stood at the threshold to the kitchen that doubled as a dining room, just at the edge of the light. I waited. Part of it was tact and the other was just a part of me holding myself back.

Ever perceptive Jazz saw me first.

"Danny," She said and Mom and Dad turned around to look, "Are you feeling better?"

"Uh," Words got stuck in my throat as I stared into the faces of my parents, "Um, yeah…I am. A…a little sleep was all I needed, I guess." A wavering smile traced my lips and I walked into the warm kitchen, sitting down at my usual spot at the table.

"Here, Danny, have some soup." Mom placed a steaming bowl in front of me and I eyed it. She noticed and smiled, "No, there's no ectoplasm in it this time." She turned to Dad, "I made sure of it."

"What?" Dad asked in his usual clueless manner.

_Clueless._

The word struck a cord somewhere inside me and the mouthful of soup I'd just stuck in my mouth went down my throat in a dissatisfied lump.

_Sam._

My stomach churned. There'd be no stopping it this time.

I dropped my spoon and ran towards the first floor bathroom with my hands clamped over my mouth.

* * *

I hid in the bathroom with the door locked long after I'd stopped vomiting into the toilet, ignoring my parents asking me if I was alright through the closed door.

How could I be alright? How could anything be alright? I wasn't ready. There was no way I would ever be ready! I had to go back to Clockwork and tell him I couldn't do it! I quit! I'd go back to the Inbetween and stay there! I couldn't do it! I couldn't do it! I—!

Something struck me in the side of the head and I fell with a crash to the tile floor. At the same moment, I registered the fact that the _thing_ in my chest was warm with a heat that was not my own. It was activating because time had stopped.

"Daniel!" Clockwork loomed over me and I shrank back. I couldn't help it. He would _always_ be more powerful than I was, "Shame on you, selfish Phantom!" He'd called me that once before, "Shame! You're acting like a pampered coward! Your time in the Inbetween was supposed to train you but you have become soft!" He drove the end of his staff into my stomach and made me choke in agony.

"S-shut up!" I snarled, coughing, "You d-don't get it! It _HURTS_!" I grabbed the staff in my hands and shoved upwards, rolling out of the way before he could hit me again. A trail of silver-white mist dissipated behind me as I switched into my ghost form, "You thought it would be easy! I thought it would be easy! It wasn't EASY!"

I spun into a roundhouse kick aimed at the Master of Time's head but he grabbed my ankle and threw me against the wall. Cracks spread across it as my body impacted with the hard surface. I launched myself off the wall, screaming in rage, and charged my fists with ectoplasm.

Clockwork evaded every one. I knew he would. Clockwork didn't fight often but when he did he was more formidable than any other opponent in the Ghost Zone or the Human World. I don't know how he learned to fight or who taught him—if anyone—but I normally would have known better than to strike out against him.

But I was angry, hurt, and full of anger. And I had no one else to blame but the ghost in front of me.

I swung a punch. He dodged. I flipped head-over-heels, bringing down my foot in an angry downward kick that could have broken an enemy's arm. Clockwork knocked my leg aside with his staff, grabbed a fistful of my shocking white hair, and slammed me face-down into the floor. I cried out in pain and felt blood spray past my lips and from my nose. A heavy boot slammed into the middle of my back, pinning me down.

"Listen to me while you're down there squirming!" The Master of Time snarled, "If you _don't_ do this then you doom the human and ghost races!"

"Why can't you stop them!?" I shouted back and then screamed as the pointed heads on his staff jammed into the back of my neck, forcing my face into a pool of blood.

"Because they are my _brothers_!" Clockwork roared, digging his heel in further, "I cannot destroy my _kin_!"

I tried not to cry. I really did. But the tears would not be held back any longer. I sobbed into the red and green blood that was still seeping out of my nose and split lip, bubbles of the liquid popping out of my nostrils as I blubbered.

Clockwork's foot left my back and his staff left my neck but I didn't get up. I was too miserable to even try. The Ghost of Time's arms hauled me into a sitting position and he awkwardly wrapped his cloak around me, hoisting me into his lap. I bawled into his shoulder, watching through blurred vision as my tears streaked through the green and red that was staining the glass casing on his internal clock.

"Danny, I'm sorry." He sounded like he meant it too and he looked just the part in his old man form, "You're right, I don't get it. I don't know how much this hurts you. But I did warn you, did I not?" I nodded, still crying too much to say anything, "Tomorrow. I will give you until tomorrow and if you do not do it then I'm afraid I'll have to make you."

"I hate you so much sometimes." I choked out, wiping tears, snot, and blood from my face with the back of my gloved hand, "Why can't you just hand me all the answers instead of forcing them out of me?"

"Because you would never learn that way." He scolded and sighed as he looked around the bathroom, "See what you've already done in your short temper. Destroyed the bathroom, shame on you." He was teasing me now.

"I'm _not_ paying the repair bill." I responded, rubbing my eyes and taking in a shaking breath, "_You _fix it for once."

"I suppose I owe you that much." Clockwork dumped me unceremoniously off his lap, his legs flickering into a ghostly tail, and waved his staff through the air in lazy circles, "You could do this yourself, Danny."

"Psh, if I knew how to clean a room I wouldn't have spent so much time redecorating my house in the Inbetween." I muttered, spitting a glob of blood out onto my hand, "You can clean me up to. Consider it payment for all the crap I still have to go through."

"Hmph, selfish Phantom." He muttered as the cracks on the walls faded and the blood wiped itself off the floor, "But your family would wonder how you got so badly hurt in a bathroom, I suppose."

"Having ectoplasm in my blood doesn't help." I pointed out as he spun his staff in my direction. The healing energies washed over me and I felt my wounds mending. I could have healed myself but I knew Clockwork felt as guilty as I was. Starting a fight was not the right thing to do.

"Danny, no one can do this but you." The Ghost of Time rested a hand on my shoulder, "It is your _destiny_."

"Yeah, well, destiny sucks." I grumbled, pushing my hair out of my face as it faded from white to black with my transformation-induced mist, "See you around, right?"

"I'll be watching." Clockwork said evasively, "Time In." The heat on my chest vanished along with the Master of Time.

"Danny?" I looked towards the door as Mom's voice came through, "Danny, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just…after effects." I replied lamely, opening the door and smiling up at her, "Guess my stomach wasn't ready for food yet."

"That's alright," Mom gave me a hug that I returned, "Do you want to sleep it off and I'll bring you something to eat later?"

"S-sure." I stuttered and then gave my dad a hug, "Thanks, Mom."

Mom smiled and a warm happiness flooded through me. Home. How could I have been so stupid as to think about leaving? I trailed up the stairs to my room ad shut the door. Then I switched on my bedside lamp, crouched down beside my bed, and phased my arm through the mattress. After a bit of digging, I found what I was looking for.

My journal.

It was a plain, black notebook with my DP symbol painted on rather haphazardly with some white-out I'd stolen from Jazz. I'd been filling it with every detail of my fights since the accident in the lab three years ago.

Now it was time to write in the events of the past seven years.

I pulled a pen out of my desk, sat cross-legged on my bed, and started to write…

* * *

I didn't go to sleep until around four in the morning.

When I'd heard my mother's footsteps coming up the stairs, I'd flicked off my light, stashed my pen and notebook under my pillow, and feigned sleep. She'd shaken me "awake" and I'd eaten the bowl of soup, the roll, and gulped down the water before pretending to fall back into Dreamland. As soon as she'd gotten halfway down the stairs, I'd whipped out the notebook and turned the light on again.

When I woke up, it was nearly noon. I stretched, yawned, and slid out of bed. As soon as my bare feet touched the carpet floor, my mind screamed at me to turn around and go back to bed. But I couldn't. Today was the day. Thank goodness for summer vacation.

I pulled on a pair of blue jeans, tugged on some socks, and yanked on my favorite red and white T-shirt. Then I thudded down the stairs, being as noisy as possible, and snatched a piece of Jazz's toast from her plate, dodging her punch with a grin.

"I'm going out to see Tucker and Sam." I said, "Tell Mom and Dad, will you?"

"Like they're going to leave the basement." Jazz replied and I laughed, walking out the front door and into the sunlight.

I wolfed down the piece of toast as I walked down the sidewalk, organizing my thoughts as I went.

_No_, I decided, _Not today._ I turned my crystal blue eyes towards the sky and pleaded with the clouds drifting lazily across it, _Please, give me one more day. One more day to have fun and be myself. Please. One more day._

I stopped outside Tucker's door and stared at it for a long while. It was so familiar. I raised a hand and ran my fingers across the handle, the wood, the knocker, and the numbers down the doorframe. All so familiar and yet it felt like they were from a distant time that I had become detached from. I knocked and a few seconds later the door was opened by my best friend.

"Danny! Jazz said you were sick!" He grinned and I couldn't resist smiling back.

"I got better fast." I answered, "You know me!"

"Ha!" Tucker bounded out of his front door, shutting it behind him, and walked down the steps with me back onto the sidewalk, "So, what's the occasion?"

"We're gonna pick up Sam and hang out." I stated, "The Nasty Burger, the arcade, the park, anywhere! Hang out time!"

"Sweetness!"

"Race you!" I shouted and ran ahead of him, knowing I would win. Tucker was still out of shape and I beat him to Sam's house easily enough. I pounded on the front door, out of breath with laughter, and got her mother.

_Great…_ I thought sourly, straightening up with a smile, "Hey, is Sam home? We were gonna hang out at the Nasty Burger."

"Samantha is in the middle of piano lessons, at the moment." Sam's mom said coldly and I resisted the urge to scowl at her, "If you come back later I'm sure she'll—."

There was the obnoxiously loud sound of numerous piano keys being hit all at the same time, two voices shouting at one another, and then Sam barged past her mother with an angry expression plastered across her face.

"Samantha Manson! Don't you dare—!" Sam slammed the door behind her and turned her heated lilac eyes on me.

"Let's get out of here before she decides to come after me." I grabbed her hand and Tucker's wrist and dragged them into a nearby ally.

"Okay, Nasty Burger's out, that's the first place they'll look for us." I said, ticking things off on my fingers, "So it's the arcade, the park, aaannnddd…" I chewed on my lip for a moment or two, "The mall, definitely the mall."

"We're flying, right?" Sam asked, "'Cause I'm not going back their for my bike."

"Flying. I'm Goin' Ghost!" I confirmed and let the ghostly mist wash over me, transforming me into my ghost half. I saw the shocked expression on my friends' faces and realized that this was the first time they'd seen that form of transformation. I'd been doing it for so long that I hadn't even though about it, "Uhhhhh…power surge?"

"_You_ have some explaining to do." Sam poked me hard in the chest and I blushed, rubbing the back of my neck with my gloved hand.

"Alright, alright, but not today. Tomorrow." I said softly, hanging my head, "Tomorrow, I swear you'll know everything."

"I'll hold you to that." Tucker said seriously, "But for now…arcade!"

I smiled at him, looped my arms around his and Sam's waists, and took to the air. I was determined to have fun today.

It might be my last chance to.

* * *

I came home exhausted but happy. Tucker, Sam, and I had spent the day rampaging through Amity Park—figuratively speaking. The arcade had been a beautiful sort of chaos; we'd beaten the high scores on two racing games, three shooting games, and played laser tag so many times in a row that the person behind the desk had told us that if we didn't _stop_ playing they were going to ban us.

Then we'd hit the park for lunch; stuffing our faces with fries, hotdogs, and milkshakes, laughing all the while. After we'd finished eating, the three of us had kicked around a half-deflated soccer ball we'd found until it smacked some little ten year old in the back and made him start shouting at us. In swear words. We'd bailed before his mother could show up.

The mall had been a much better experience. We'd walked into every store, joking and laughing, and had actually gotten kicked out of Limited Too for making obscene comments about the clothes. It was horrible fun; Tucker and I had to be dragged out of Game Stop by Sam and then we had to do the same for her in Hot Topic. It was a great laugh.

"You smell like flowers and oranges." Jazz commented as I flopped down on the couch next to her and flicked on the television, much to her annoyance.

"Oh, yeah, Sam took one of those perfume samples from the lady outside that one perfume store and rubbed it all over me." I said, chuckling at the memory, "If it's any consolation, I dared Tucker to go into Victoria's Secret and he got chased out by a couple of screaming preps."

Jazz and I howled with laughter. It felt good to laugh but my face was starting to hurt from a whole day of it. After we'd settled down, I leaned back against the cushions with a contented sigh.

"You aren't doing anything tomorrow, are you?" I asked and Jazz shook her head, "Good. Sam and Tucker are coming over. I need to talk to them, and to you, and to…Mom and Dad."

The tone in my voice made her look up, "You're going to tell them, aren't you?"

"I have to, Jazz." I whispered, staring without seeing at the television screen, "I can't keep hiding forever." I cracked my back, stretching my hands towards the ceiling, and jumped off the couch, "I'm hitting the sack, see you in the morning."

"Danny!" Jazz shouted after me as I took the stairs two at a time, "Danny get back here and turn the TV off! Danny!"

I slammed my door shut behind me, slid out of my clothes, and wriggled under the covers. A small, well aimed ectobeam at the light switch drained the room of light.

I closed my eyes and prayed for a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Well, that's the end of chapter two. And I know you're all still royally pissed at me for not letting you know what's going on. Just wait for, I think, chapter four. Maybe three. I dunno, we'll see how this works out.

Anyway, you did get some little bits of what's going to happen later on if you paid close enough attention. If anyone wants to take some stabs at what's happening, feel free to leave them in the reviews.

So thanks for reading, please review, don't kill me, and byes!


	3. Truth

Ah, there is a change in this one. In the original sneak preview in the first MIB, only Tucker was with Danny. Change of plans. Had to be done or there would have been, like, three chapters of filler and it would have been really crappy filler.

And this is going to be a short chapter. Reasons to be evident at the end.

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**Three: Truth**

**

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**

It was like the weather was laughing at me. The next morning was gray, cloudy, and full of on-off drizzle. Sam and Tucker arrived at the house around ten dressed in raincoats, boots, and handling umbrellas.

I was miserable. I fidgeted all morning until my friends arrived; moving from the kitchen table to the living room sofa, from the sofa to an armchair, from the armchair all the way down into my parents' lab to a swivel chair that I spun around in for half an hour, and then back up to the kitchen.

But I couldn't put it off any longer. The longer I put it off, the further into danger the world would stumble. So, at exactly a quarter to eleven, I led Jazz, Sam, and Tucker down into the lab to face my parents. And tell them the truth.

Mom and Dad were leaning over a glass test tube together, talking in hushed and excited whispers. I cleared my throat but got no response.

"Mom? Dad?" I said loudly and they glanced up briefly. Neither Sam, Tucker, nor Jazz said a word for which I was thankful. Their company was enough.

"What is it, sweetie?" Mom's attention was almost immediately back on the tube.

"I…I really need to…to talk to you." Neither of them looked up from their experiment, "Please, it's…it's really important."

Mom nudged Dad in the side and, with a huffy pout, my father turned his attention to me as Mom pushed her goggles to perch a top her head. Now that the moment was here I wasn't so sure of myself but it was the reassuring presence of my friends and sister and Clockwork's words that made me take the initiative, "Mom, Dad, you love me…no matter what, right?" I asked shakily.

"Of course, Danny!" Dad answered in his usual boisterous manner.

"You're our son." Mom replied.

"Th-then you swear you won't…you won't hate me for…anything?" The words were getting stuck in my throat and it was taking a lot to push them out, "You wouldn't…hurt me at all?"

"Danny, what's wrong?" My mother's brow knitted in worry and she made to move towards me but I took a step back. I wasn't finished yet.

"I've been keeping a secret from you guys." My voice was starting to shake and I had to force it steady. Sam dodged forward and patted my shoulder before stepping back again. I took a deep, cleansing breath, "I'm the Ghost Kid. I'm Danny Phantom."

"It took all my will power to let the nebula of stars and white mist twirl around my form. I felt the cold energy seeping out of my body. In seconds, my hair had turned white, my T-shirt and jeans had been replaced by my black and white jumpsuit, but my eyes remained mismatched; one blue, one green.

My parents stared at me in shock and then Mom stuttered out, "I-is he…o-overshadowing you!?"

"No," Jazz said from behind me, "It's Danny."

"I was just fourteen," I explained, sitting cross-legged in the air. Dad's mouth was hanging open stupidly, "You guys had just finished building the Fenton Ghost Portal but it wouldn't work so you gave it up. A few days later I brought Tucker and Sam over to see it. Sam convinced me to go inside but when I did there was a great big flash of light. Everything sort of…changed. I came out like this. Half ghost. A halfa." I finished and waited for a reaction.

"Then…this whole time…we've been…" Mom was struggling to get her head around it, "We've been…hunting you…? All this time? Why didn't you say anything!?" She ran forward and grabbed my shoulders, ignoring the icy cold I gave off, "Danny, honey, we could have hurt you or…or worse!" She squeezed me into a hug, "I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you!"

I felt Dad's large arms wrap around both of us and hoist us into the air, "Danny! I can't believe it! You're half ghost! It's almost impossible!" He laughed in my ear and it made a ringing sound in my head.

"D-Dad!" I gasped, "C-can't…breathe!" He dropped me to the floor and I gasped, smiling up at them, "I'm glad you guys aren't freaking out about this. I…I was so scared you were gonna," I glanced at Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, "Dissect me molecule by molecule."

"Well, it does explain why our ghost equipment goes haywire around you." Mom stated thoughtfully, "And why you had all those scrapes and bruises…"

"Wait." I said and the tone ringing in my echoing voice made them all look, "There's…more that you guys need to know. A lot more. Wait here a sec'." I phased through the ceiling, through the first floor, and then into my bedroom. I pulled my journal out from under my mattress and phased back into the lab, "Here, read this. From the beginning. Sam and Tucker know most of it and Jazz knows a little too. When you get to yesterdays date, let me know. I have to explain something to you."

I let the mist swirl around my body, dropping me back into human form, and fell into a chair in front of the computer. I folded up my arms, closed my eyes, and waited.

The next thing I knew, Sam was shaking me awake.

I blinked a couple of times to clear the sleep from my mismatched eyes, cracked my neck, and looked up. By the expressions on my parents' face, I could tell that Sam and let me sleep long enough to give them ample time to digest all the information that I'd written down prior to my departure. Good, they'd need it.

"Okay," I spun the chair to face everyone, "I just want to say that you can't hate Clockwork for what you're about to read. And you can have _no_ part in it. It's _my_ job. _My_ destiny, however much it sucks." I ran a quick hand through my black hair, "As Frostbite once told me: "Fear is natural, Danny Phantom. Charging into battle despite the fear is what makes someone a hero."" I sat back in the chair, "It's long, you might want to take turns reading it out loud."

Sam gently took the notebook from my Mom's hands and flipped it open to my latest entry. Then she settled a top one of the tables, leaned back against the wall, and began to read…

* * *

I did warn you it was going to be a short chapter. This next series of chapters is all going to be Them reading Danny's journal and it's going to take _a lot_ of reading. We're going to go over how he got to the Inbetween, you're going to find out exactly what the _thing_ on his chest that he's been throwing fits about is and how it got there, there's going to be tons about his training with the Reapers, you'll even get a sneak peak of what he's learned, and you'll finally find out _what the heck is going on_!

Doesn't that sound exciting?

If you think so, stick around! Chapter four's coming up soon!

I'll see you guys later, thanks for reading, and please, please, _please_ leave me a review. Updates depend on them. X3


	4. Destiny Sucks, Part 1

And so we begin. Please remember that this is all written in Danny's journal. There are going to be several chapters like this so just keep that in mind.

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**Four: Destiny Sucks—Part 1

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**

It'd been planned out carefully for two weeks. I'd been sneaking out every night to visit Clockwork ever since he'd told me what it was I had to do. I came back last night; by everyone else's time; with a vial containing a liquid sickness. I drank it and, well, got sick; sick enough to let for Mom and Dad to let me stay home. The sickness faded a few hours after they left with Jazz so I occupied the rest of the day by skimming over papers on ghosts. I wasn't really paying attention to them. When two o' clock came around, I left for the Ghost Zone.

Clockwork was waiting for me in his screen room when I entered his lair.

"Quit looking at me like that!" I snapped at him, "You keep giving me this…this _sympathetic _look—!"

"Danny," Clockwork interrupted, "Come over here." It was the tone of his voice that sent all the anger and fear rushing out of me, "You're going to the Inbetween."

"I know; we've talked about it with—."

"The living are not allowed in the Inbetween," The Time Ghost reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out something wrapped in shimmering green paper, "You're going to have to have this. I've spent many an hour working on it; there's never been anything like it and its extremely powerful so be careful with it."

I took the package from him and, after giving him a wary glance, tore the paper off. Resting in my hands was one of Clockwork's time medallions without the violet ribbon. But it was black, shimmering like volcanic glass, and the CW on it was engraved in gold.

"Wow, thanks, what's it for? Hanging on my wall?"

"Hardly," Clockwork said coolly, "Turn human and take your shirt off."

"You know how _weird_ that sounds?" I muttered but did as I was told, shivering at the chill of the Ghost Zone, "What's it going to do?"

"As I said, the living; or _half_ living; are not allowed in the Inbetween." He took the gear-shaped medallion from my hands, "Because you going to the Inbetween and because of the jumps through time you're going to be making, your internal time is going to become corrupted."

"WHAT!?"

"Calm down, Danny, that's what this is for," Clockwork gestured to the medallion, "It's extremely powerful, as I've said; powerful enough to stabilize your internal time. It will also allow you to travel freely through dimensions and time."

"So can you, like, put it on one of those nifty ribbons so I can wear it?" I asked.

"No, it would be too easy for you to lose it that way." Clockwork carefully propped his staff against the wall, "It needs to be embedded into your being."

I stared at him.

"Em-embedded as in…?" I swallows thickly, not sure I wanted him to finish the sentence.

"Like this." The Ghost of Time grabbed my shoulder and slammed the medallion into the center of my chest, just beneath my neck. Icy tendrils of energy wove themselves into my flesh, clamping around every fiber of my being like steel claws. I screamed, I know I did, and felt myself crash to the stone floor. Clockwork told me later that he'd had to pin me down because I was in danger of hurting myself, the way I was thrashing around. What I do remember is the agony and this thrum of power vibrating through my entire body that made my head rattle. I thought I was going to go mad with the pain when it suddenly stopped. I think I kept screaming for a whole minute before I realized nothing was harming me anymore. Clockwork had let go of me long before and was standing over by the screens with his staff in hand.

"Geez," I groaned, getting shakily to my feet, "Thanks for the warning, Clockwork!"

"If I had told you it would hurt would you have let me do it?" The Time Ghost asked with a knowing smile on his old man's face.

I scowled at him and looked at the medallion now forever protruding from the smooth skin of my chest. Curious, I wrapped my knuckles on it so that it rang with a bell like "ting" throughout the silent lair. I felt the vibration ripple through me and shuddered. It was a _part_ of me.

"Interesting toy you've given him, Clockwork." Said a voice I hadn't heard in almost two years. But I would _never_ forget that voice. I had almost died the night I'd met its owner.

I turned around and faced Lady Grim Reaper. "Hey," I murmured, "What's up?"

Lady Grim smiled at me, "Definitely not you're spirits, boy-o."

"What did you expect?" It was a rhetorical question and I didn't expect an answer, "I have to leave home for who knows how long and no one will even notice, when I eventually _do_ come back I have to tell my parents I'm the Ghost Kid, and my destiny _sucks_!"

"You understand what you have to do then?" Clockwork asked and I rolled my mismatched eyes at him, shifting into my ghost form to deaden the chill of the air.

"Don't treat me like a preschooler." I growled, "I know exactly what I have to do but that doesn't mean I like it. If I had the power to, I'd stop them myself!"

The Grim Reaper and the Master of Time both chuckled and I felt my face heat up. Lady Grim tossed her hair over her shoulder, her dress sparkling in the lights from Clockwork's screens, "Are you ready, halfa?"

"I guess…" I turned my gaze to Clockwork who was watching impassively in his toddler form, "Does this have to be here?" I indicated the bulge in my suit where the skin tight fabric was stretched over the medallion.

"I'm taking at as a stupid question." The ghost answered coolly.

"Well I feel like Ironman or something." I muttered, pouting. Clockwork laughed and Lady Grim giggled, "What's so funny?"

"You. You have the amazing ability to crack jokes in the most dire and heart wrenching situations." Lady Grim answered as Clockwork wiped ectoplasmic tears from the cheeks of his young man body.

"Yeah, I have that effect on people." I grumbled, not meeting their eyes. I took a step towards Lady Grim.

"So you're really sure this is the way you want to do this?" Clockwork called after me and I glanced over my shoulder at him as the Grim Reaper beside me took my hand.

"It's like I got a choice in the matter," I answered back, "The Ghost Zone didn't let me make a choice. And, well, it's like you say: 'Everything is as it should be'."

Clockwork smiled, knowing I finally understood what he meant by those words, "Touché." He said softly, "And good luck, Danny Phantom."

I forced a smile onto my face that suddenly vanished as a suction feeling occurred. I felt as though I was being squeezed into the neck of glass bottle while I was coated in a sticky rubber film. Yeah, it hurt. There were a few seconds of darkness and then, with a strangely unnecessary "pop", sunlight blinded me.

I stumbled away from Lady Grim, arms wrapped around my torso, and collapsed onto the soft, green grass of the Inbetween; the land of the Reapers. My limbs were shaking, my head ached and spun, the edges of my vision were blurred, and I was having a hard time getting my breath back. The medallion in my chest was hot. My stomach felt as though it had been squished to the size of pea with a feast stuffed inside it. It only took a manner of minutes for my body to empty my lunch out onto the grass.

"Sorry, boy-o, I guess I should have warned you about traveling through dimensions." She helped me to my feet as I spat onto the mess I'd already left, "It's hard for someone who's still alive, even with Clockwork's gizmo."

"This thing is going to scare the crap out of me every time I look in the mirror," I grumbled, "And I think I'm going to lose breakfast now…"

"Hold still." Lady Grim placed her hands on my stomach and I automatically shrunk away from her touch, "Danny…" I stiffened, "Good boy." A soft, white light radiated from her hands and the twisted feeling in my gut loosened and vanished.

"Whoa!" I patted myself down and lifted up the front of my jumpsuit but there wasn't a single mark, "How'd you do that!?"

"Reapers are part of the World and part of the Heavens." The Reaper explained, "We touch all elements and can trigger them easily. Ghosts are usually allotted a single element to control; hence your ice powers."

"I'm only allowed ice?"

"Walk with me." I followed Lady Grim onto a dirt path that wound past the tiny coffee shop I remembered from my first trip here and towards the crystal clear waters of the nearby river, "You are a very special boy, Danny, more special than I think you realize. How much did Clockwork tell you about what you have to do?"

"Um…" I thought for a moment, white boots thudding across the worn wooden bridge that crossed the river, "Just that I wasn't supposed to do any of this until I was a lot older." I stopped half way across the bridge, resting my hands on the railing to stare at the flowing water, "He said that it wasn't a bad thing I met Amethyst or got captured by Yulcifer but…" I hung my head, "If none of that had happened ZeE and Alex and everyone…wouldn't be…" I shook my head, clearing myself of the dark thoughts clustering there. I'd gotten over this last year and I didn't need it brought up again. I started walking once more, "He told me that what the Observants did _was_ bad and it "sped up the plan" or something like that."

"That was all he told you?"

"Well, I'm…" I chewed on my lip, "I'm not supposed to say this but I guess 'cause you're training me it doesn't matter." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I have to wake up the Ancients." Lady Grim smiled at me and I realized she'd already known. I wonder how much else she knew, "That's all he said." I whispered finally, looking away.

"Did you know there was more?" I gave her a quick glance with my mismatched eyes before returning my gaze to the scenery, "Clockwork didn't tell you some things, boy-o, probably because he thought you would quit if you knew them."

"What didn't he tell me?" A hot anger popped inside me—so because he was the Master of Time he figured it would be okay to leave me in the dark!? Did he think I was really going to quit that easily!? Especially after what he told me!

"You know the Observants are overstepping their boundaries," Lady Grim said, her back to me as she led me further along the path, "They have ceased of their original duties to only observe and have begun to act, and not for the benefit of ghost or human. They are trying to take over the Ghost Zone and will move onto the human world if they aren't stopped."

"They think the Ghost Zone has lost the "order" it had when the Ancients oversaw it." I grumbled, "I know. Which is stupid because, I mean, really, when did the Ghost Zone have order?"

"Exactly." The Grim Reaper chuckled, "The Ghost Zone is the place of disorder and chaos which makes it the perfect habitat for specters. The Ghost Zone doesn't like what the Observants are trying to do."

"Yeah, the—wait, what? Ghost Zone? What do you mean it doesn't _like_ what they're doing!? It's just a…a place!" I stuttered around my words, jogging to catch up so that I could walk directly beside Lady Grim, "You're pulling my leg!"

"I am doing no such thing, boy-o." Her expression was serious, "The Ghost Zone is a thinking, feeling, conscious being that watches and cares for every ghost in its precious fold. It creates lairs to accommodate them, it heals them with its spectral energy, and it generates guardians to protect itself, its inhabitants, and the humans in the world beyond."

"No way…" I murmured, "All this time…that's incredible."

"There is a certain door in the Ghost Zone," Lady Grim went on, leading me through a small forest of sweeping willows, "That cannot be opened, whether by hand, key, or force, or phased through by human or spirit. No one can find this door anyway. Several spectral beings know of its existence but they do not bother with it. Do you know what lies beyond this door?"

I shook my head.

"It is called the Origin Room. Inside is a pool of the purest ectoplasm, so clear and sparkling it could be mistaken as water. This is the lifeblood of the Ghost Zone; its mind, its core, its heart, the very thing that makes it a conscious state of existence." She glanced at me, "This is where you must go. The Ancients hid themselves there long ago, after they sealed away the tyrant Pariah Dark."

"But how can I find a door that no one can find anyway?" I grumbled, "That's impossible."

"You will know how to find it when the time comes." She said with a knowing smile. The smile faded away as she continued, "The Ghost Zone created many "children," all of them with incredible powers; even if those powers weren't used for the protection of humanity but rather for destruction and turmoil. But that is the way of a ghost." I scowled at her and she ruffled my white hair, "There are only two children that the Ghost Zone created that did not spawn from the Origin Room." She looked at me, waiting for me to figure it out.

"Me…" I pointed to my chest, misjudged the distance, and smacked the end of my finger on the medallion embedded there, "And…Vlad?"

"Yes," Lady Grim said solemnly, "Vlad Plasmius Masters was the first halfa the Ghost Zone chose."

"Wait, chose!?"

"Clockwork is the eleventh son of the Ghost Zone, his older siblings are the ten Ancients you must awaken. His younger brothers and sisters are the Observants, however much he hates them." The thought of Clockwork being the middle child in a huge family made me snigger but I choked it down, listening to the Grim Reaper's explanation, "His tie to the Ghost Zone is stronger than most of the others; so when he discovered what was going to happen with the Observants, the Ghost Zone knew as well."

"What's this have to do with me and Vlad?" I asked.

"Plasmius was the first born; the first halfa ever created by the Ghost Zone." Lady Grim's expression was sad, "He had such a good heart at the beginning, if a doubtful one. He may not have believed in ghosts as much as your parents did but he was a loyal friend. Perhaps the Ghost Zone went about his transformation the wrong way, though. He took it too hard and, well, I believe you know the rest, boy-o."

I felt pangs of sympathy in my heart. True, Vlad had been my arch nemesis for several years but in the end he'd helped me get my head in the right place. I had memories from Phantom when we'd been separated; I knew what Vlad had done but would never tell me.

"When the Ghost Zone realized how dark with hatred Plasmius' heart had become, she—."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! She? It has a _gender_!?"

"Not really. Clockwork, the Ancients, and the other "children" refer to the Ghost Zone as "Mother" so the term stuck and sometimes she is referred to as a female."

"Oh…"

Lady Grim shook her head and smiled at me, "The Ghost Zone realized that she had not chosen carefully enough. She consulted Clockwork and found you."

"You mean…the Ghost Zone chose _me_ to find the Ancients? Why can't it—she—just wake them up herself?"

"They have withdrawn themselves into the farthest depths of the Origin Room, unwilling to associate with anyone. They have been out of touch with the Ghost Zone since she had the idea to make Plasmius."

I didn't say anything. I knew what all of this would entail; telling my parents my secret; but I couldn't get my head around it just yet. How could so much responsibility lay on me? How could a sentient _place_ have picked me from the moment I was born—from before I was born—to save everything? Why did it have to be me?

"Danny?" I hadn't realized I had stopped walking right in the middle of the dirt path twining through a field of flowers. Tiger lilies.

"I don't know if I can do this." I muttered, staring at the dirt between my boots, "It just seems like…too much for a sixteen year old kid to handle."

"You handled your last adventure very well, boy-o, why not this one?"

I chuckled darkly, "Handled it well? Are you kidding? I nearly killed myself!"

Lady Grim swept over to me, kneeling down so that her gaze was level with mine, and placed her hands on my shoulders, "But good came out of it, didn't it? Plasmius is not controlled by the evil and hatred that once consumed him and Dan Phantom learned his lesson, did he not?"

"Yeah…" I replied, shrugging, "I guess I did okay."

"You are a brilliant, special, child!" Lady Grim insisted, standing up and dusting herself off, "You need to give yourself more credit, boy-o!"

"Brilliant?" I scoffed jokingly, "Have you _seen_ my math grades? I'd say they were far from brilliant!" We both got a laugh out of that one.

As we rounded a bend of trees, a three story mansion came into view. A marble stone wall with iron spikes on the top ran all the way around it and an intricate iron gate bared our way as we approached.

"Okay, wait, this is like, check in or something, right?" I asked, amazed at the building. It was white marble with navy blue eves, numerous windows, a couple of balconies, and a white marble porch that led the way to the blue stained front door.

"Actually, this is your home; where you'll be staying as we train you." Lady Grim pressed her palm against the gate and it swung open without a sound, "Only you, I, or the servants can open this gate so you are safe within these walls. Not that anything would harm you in the Inbetween as it was!" She smiled at me.

"Uhhhh…thanks?" I smiled back and then yelped as she gently shoved me forward.

"Go on, boy-o, explore! I have duties to attend to but if you need anything send your Guardian Angel; he'll know what to do." I blinked and she was gone.

"Alllrrriiiiggghhht…" I turned back to the giant house as the gate swung shut behind me, "This is…different…"

* * *

Uhg, one of those "blah, blah, blah" chapters! Well, it explained everything, didn't it. Not hiding anything from you, am I? Or…am I? Hmmmm, is there something you don't know yet? Of course! What did the Reapers teach Danny?  
Wait and see….  
As always, thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you in the next chapter! Byes!


	5. Destiny Sucks, Part 2

Remember! This is Danny's journal! And also remember that he is still sixteen at this point. A lot to take in for a teenager, huh?

Oh, and if someone wants to try and draw Danny wearing his sw33t l33t outfit in this chapter please do! I'd love to see your artwork for this, guys!

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**Five: Destiny Sucks—Part 2

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**

The mansion was a cozy temperature as I stepped through the front door and lit by sunlight and warm lighting. The foyer—I could think of no other name for it—was spacious enough with a polished hard wood floor, the real stuff not the imitation, golden painted walls, and a dark red carpet stretching from the front door to a mahogany paneled door at the opposite side of the room. I was heading towards it when it opened and a man wearing a black suit lined in silver with attentive brown eyes and sleek blonde hair that was slicked over his head.

"Lord Phantom?" He asked and I quirked an eyebrow at him. I'd never been called _that_ before. The man saw my confusion and smiled a little, "Ah, Danny Phantom, then?"

"Uh, yeah."

The man put one arm across his waist and bowed low. My face flushed, "I am Mack, your chief of servitude. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask."

"Um, how about a tour?"

Mack gave me a winning smile and gestured for me to follow, "In all honesty," He said calmly as he led me out of the foyer and into a giant room, "When I was given this position and told I was going to be serving one of the most powerful ghosts in the history of human kind I expected someone…"

"A little more daunting?" I offered, grinning, "Yeah, I get that a lot." I switched my gaze to the room we'd entered. The ceiling was paneled wood strung with expensive looking chandeliers, the floor and black and white checkered tile, and the walls were such a pale green they almost looked white. There were two wooden doors on either wall to my left and right, a door on the wall across from me, and a flight of iron spiral stairs that went to the next level.

"This is the main hall," Mack explained, "In there," He pointed to the first door on my left, "Is the kitchen and the room next to that is the formal dining room. To your right," He gestured, "Is the informal dining room and a," He sighed uneasily, "Game room." I brightened, that couldn't be so bad. Games were good, "The room at the end of the hall is the ballroom. Come." He led me up to the second floor and into a hallway of white carpet, creamy walls, and dark stained wooden doors; three, to be exact; and another flight of iron spiral stairs, "The two doors on your left lead to a study and an empty room you can do whatever you like with and the door on your right is your bedroom which has a private bathroom attached. The top floor contains a swimming pool, a small dojo, a running track, exercise equipment, and a basketball court." Mack turned to me, "Explore to your leisure, my lord, I am going to help prepare dinner. Would you like anything in particular?"

"Uhhh…" I struggled through my awe and amazement that all of this belonged to _me_, "Yeah…um…a Raspberry, Lemonade, and Vanilla slushie…" I answered vaguely. Mack made a disgusted face that made me chuckle and vanished down the stairs.

I didn't know what to start but I automatically trailed towards the bedroom. There were so many things going through my head, so many confirmations that had been made or had yet to be, that my skull was pounding with them. A shower, I decided, would be an awfully nice thing at the moment.

Stepping into the bedroom made me sick to my stomach.

Everything was a bright, welcoming yellow color and I hated it. As soon as I finished supper, I was going to redo the whole thing in my favorite color. Blue.

I angrily strode towards the wooden door at the other side of the bedroom, tears springing into my eyes as I thought about what I had done and what I was about to do. I turned human as I went, kicking off articles of clothing so that they lay scattered in a haphazard trail all the way to the bathroom door. Then I locked the door behind me and turned the shower of full blast. In seconds, hot steam was floating over the top of the shower curtain and I ducked underneath the boiling water.

The hot liquid was soothing and eased the tension I didn't realize I had in my muscles. I relaxed, closing my eyes and allowing the calm of the shower to over take me. My mind was swept blank by the peace of it. It wasn't until the hot water started turning lukewarm that I finally stepped out and shut the water off.

I grabbed the puffy, dark violet towel sitting on the black marble counter across from the shower and buried by face in it, taking a deep breath. It smelled like clean, fresh air. As I dried myself off, I realized that I hadn't thought to grab any clean clothes. Then I thought, _Wait, do I even _have_ any clean clothes?_

I wrapped the towel around my waist and walked out of the bathroom. Someone had come through my room and picked up my discarded clothes but where they had gone was anyone's guess. Folded neatly on the giant canopied four poster bed in the middle of the room was a pile of clothes I guessed the same person had set out for me. I had no other real choice but to get dressed unless I was planning to go down to dinner in nothing but a towel.

_Boxers,_ I mentally checked off as I pulled them on, _Good._ Then I frowned slightly. The pants I was holding weren't jeans as I had first thought but rather black cloth pants. I tugged them on anyway. Then I spent about a whole five minutes trying to figure out the rest of the little ensemble. When I was finished, I checked myself out in the mirror and couldn't stop the grin on my face. I looked cool.

A black tunic was tied around my torso with a white band of cloth, a heavy black vest intricately laced with dark red and glittering gold designs went over it, and a sweeping white trench coat stitched with red that curved into odd Chinese patterns was worn over that. My black pants were held up by a silver studded, dark brown leather belt with a silver buckle that made the symbol—my symbol—DP and the ends were tucked into belt-covered black boots that would have made Sam jealous.

The happiness was sucked out of me like one of Vortex's tornadoes.

Sam.

My heart ached, making me painfully aware of just what I had done. Suddenly, this giant mansion felt very lonely and the clothes seemed to become dull and faded.

Someone knocked on the door and opened it. Mack's expression, which had been bright and smiling, suddenly faded into a sad pity. I hated that look so much. Clockwork had given it to me every time I'd met up with him and I hated it. So I looked away, unwilling to let him see the pain in my blue and green eye.

"You have guests downstairs, Lord Phantom." Mack said softly, in a voice that reminisced a parent comforting a child. I wished he wouldn't. It hurt, "If you'd follow me, mi' lord."

I trailed after him silently, keeping my gaze to the floor. I hated myself for what I'd done, I hated the Ghost Zone for picking me, and most of all I hated the stupid Observants who had messed everything up and put me in this situation. I resolved to exact revenge on them with every ounce of my being. If it was the last thing I ever did.

Several people were sitting around the large, polished wooden table, waiting for me, in the formal dining room as I took my seat, all of them dressed in black. One was a tall, foreboding looking man with spiky blonde hair and chocolate eyes so emotionlessly empty I was reminded of a black hole, beside him was Lady Grim in her usual black and silver dress with her arm wrapped around the man's arm beside her. The only other person in the room I recognized was the Goth mimicking Lady Darkness who was smiling at me in an irksome way with sparkly, purple lips. The three other people in the room—besides the man next to Lady Grim—I did not know. Two were men, one with curly crimson hair and emerald eyes and the other with shimmering locks of black hair that tumbled down his back and calculating, angry black eyes, and the other was a woman with a blank expression, dark red hair that was cropped short against her jaw, and empty dark green eyes.

"Danny," Lady Grim's smile was slightly forced, "Allow me to introduce you to my husband and the Head Reaper of the Inbetween, Lord Grim." Lord Grim nodded at me but I made no move to respond, "I believe you already know Lady Darkness." I narrowed my eyes at her as she giggled at me, "Those two men are Lord Sorrow," The red head glared at me and I was slightly taken aback; the last time I had seen Lord Sorrow his hair had been golden-brown and spiked, "And Lord Odium," Lord Odium's angry eyes pierced through me and I quickly looked away; he was a scary one, "And the last but certainly not least, Lady Grief." She flicked her green eyes at me and I shivered; there was a hungry stare in them.

"My lord and lady Reapers," Mack stood in a doorway I could only assume led to the kitchens, "Dinner is served." He stepped aside and a cascade of waiters dressed in black, silver, and white swept into the room, setting plates and silverware before us. A bowl of steaming soup was set before me and a tall glass filled with my requested slushie. I pushed the bowl away, feeling nauseated and empty, and stared at my hands folded in my lap. I didn't want to be here anymore.

Feeling someone's eyes on me, I glanced up and saw Lady Grief staring at me hungrily while still taking tiny spoonfuls of her own soup. I swallowed thickly, a little freaked out by her odd behavior. Was it customary for Reapers to randomly stare at each other while they ate? I took a quick look around the table but everyone else's attention was at their food. Well, fine, if she wanted a staring contest I'd give her a staring contest. I glared my mismatched eyes across the table at Lady Grief but she didn't so much as blink.

Quite suddenly, I felt extremely drained. I slouched in my seat, eyelids drooping. The medallion on my chest was stone cold.

"Danny." Lady Grim's voice snapped me around and I looked at her. She had an expression on her face like I'd been caught with my hand in the cookie jar, "It would probably be best for you _not_ to have a staring contest with Grief. She's been known to feed on people's sorrows."

"Yeah, _now_ you tell me." I grumbled and, now determined to avoid everyone's gaze, snatched up my slushie and started gulping it down. My mood was fowl; I'd rather have been stuffed into my locker by Dash than here in the Inbetween and away from everything I loved.

"Wondering why we're all here, aren't you _Lord_ Phantom?" Lady Darkness' plate was completely cleaned of food. It was almost like she'd inhaled the stuff, "Wondering why _you're_ here too, huh?"

"That's enough, Lady Darkness." Lord Grim's voice rumbled and I glanced at him. Never had I heard someone's voice who sounded so much like thunder echoing in the distance, "You know why you are here."

It was more of a demand than a question but I answered it anyway, "Training or something like that."

"Training." Lord Sorrow confirmed but was silenced by a look from Lord Grim.

"Starting tomorrow," The Head Reaper laced his fingers together, put his elbows on the table, and rested his chin on his interlocked digits, keeping his eyes on me the whole time, "Lady Grim, as she is your designated Reaper, and Lord Sorrow, as he is the Reaper of your fellow halfa, will be visiting once again. You will begin your training then."

"Thanks…" I muttered but there wasn't a lot of heart in it, "For taking the trouble to do this…I know you'd probably…rather not have me here…"

"It does not matter what we want." Lord Odium growled in low voice that still managed to carry across the table to me, "What matters is that life is sustained as it should be. The Observants are corrupting the balance of life and death to an almost catastrophic scale. If ghosts were ever to take over the living world, it would mean the end of The Trinity!"

"Wha—?" I started to ask but Lady Grim smiled, holding up her hand to stop me.

"Tomorrow, Danny-boy." She said softly, "For now, we leave." The Reapers stood and started heading towards the door and she swept over to me, "Get some rest, boy-o, you'll need it."

I watched them all go, still not getting up from my chair. Just when I thought I'd had things figured out something else came my way. It wasn't until someone touched my shoulder and I looked up to find everything blurred that I realized I was crying. I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes, drawing shuddering breaths that only came out as echoing sobs. When I'd finally gotten myself under control, I found it was Mack who had been patiently waiting for me to quit bubbling.

"You suffer much," He said, "But I'm not the one you should talk to." He shuffled to his left, something I would later learn meant he was upset, "Go to your room, Lord Phantom, and rest. I believe Lady Grim Reaper is right in saying that you will need it."

I was at a completely loss for words; pushed into silence by the pain of everything that was happening around me. I stood and, almost mechanically, made my way to my room. It wasn't until I had closed the door and gotten halfway across the sunset lit room that I realized I was not alone.

Someone was sitting on my bed, waiting for me.

I froze, automatically reaching for my ghost powers when the person leaped off the bed and looked me right in the eye with a wide smile on their face.

It was me. A me with black angel wings. My Guardian Angel.

We had met once before, on my first and unintended trip to the Inbetween, but seeing him again always gave me a shock.

"Danny," He said, "We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to anyone," I growled, stripping off the fancy clothes and tossing them carelessly aside, "I just want to go to sleep."

"Grow up." My Guardian Angel snapped at me, flaring his wings, "After all the stuff you've been through, you'd think you'd be able to handle this! But you're falling apart at the seams!"

"Of course I am! I had to leave everything behind!" I screamed, "And when I go back it'll be like nothing ever happened! But then I have to go off to find some stupid ghosts who are too stupid to wake themselves up and go through some more stupid crap before I can finally get past all of this stupidity and get to do what I want!" Tears sprouted in my eyes and I felt the cold energy that was the twin rings split over me, changing me into my ghost form, "Doesn't anyone in this stupid universe care about what _I_ want!? Has everyone freaking forgotten that the freaking _hero_ has a life too!? What about ME!?" I fell to my knees on the floor, sobbing, unable to stop, "What about me…"

"I know it's not fair, Danny." Guardian Angel was crouched in front of my, wings fanned to keep his balance, "But you have to do this. Once you do, I'm sure everything will be better. The worst that could happen is the Box Ghost, right?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it. I hadn't actually fought the Box Ghost in almost a year. I'd been so busy trying to patch myself back together I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be a "normal superhero."

"There, you see," Guardian Angel straightened up and held out his hand to me. I allowed myself to be helped upright, dropping my ghost half as I did so, "All you needed was some pep talk. Now go to sleep and in the morning you can get your butt kicked around by a couple or Reapers until you're too tired to think straight."

"Yeah, yeah," I scoffed, climbing under the blankets, "You, me, and the rest of world."

"You don't know how right you are." Those were the last words I heard before I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

End of chapter five! Uh-oh, I think these chapters are getting shorter. This is a problem. Hmm…

So, anyway, Danny's pretty much been officially settled in, we've met the head honcho Reapers of the Inbetween, and Danny's going to start training in the next chapter. That is if he can keep his head together.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, please don't hesitate to review, and have a nice day! Byes!


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